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ON COIN DEALER ACCESS TO THE U.S. MINTBill Eckberg's item last week quoting Ed Frossard about the U.S. Mint's coin-dealing activities kicked off a great email conversation with Craig Sholley, and with their permission I'm publishing it here for our readers. Thanks! -Editor Craig writes: "What a neat find. I have always suspected that the turn-in of old coppers included pre-federal coppers, but could not prove it. "I also strongly suspect they were weight-counting the coins. I cannot imagine them hand counting literally hundreds of thousands of old coppers and worn-out silver." Bill responds: "I am pretty sure you were the one who put me onto that bit about dealers going through the coppers that were turned in. I figured you knew what you were talking about, and eventually I came across the Frossard article. Boom! Smoking gun. He doesn’t say anything about how they did it. I’m fairly sure they kept anything that was thick, since the 1793s and 1794s are more common relative to their mintage than the later ones. And also more frequently in really low grade." Craig writes: "You probably read it in my old Penny-Wise article "The Mass Melting of the Early Copper Coinage". "I'll have to credit Breen for that one, he found it in AJN. Here's the quote from the October 1868 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics:" I quite well remember what an advantage the Mint was to us who lived in Philadelphia, for we had the privilege of going to the institution and had the privilege of selecting from trays or drawers subdivided for every date. From these I procured some excellent specimens of cents for their face value; and many of us collectors, knowing this channel, thus secured cheap cents. We also took precaution to lay aside quantities of fine pieces to trade with, and for some years afterwards, the market was well stocked with cents. The employees of the Mint, however, soon learned to know the increasing value of these coins, and also commenced laying aside the finer pieces and more unusual dates. Our game was blocked by this discovery, for we saw thence forward that the desirable cents were missing. 
Philadelphia dealer Mason's postcard to collector J.N.T. Levick Craig continues: "Levick just mentions cents, although that could include Confederation period coinage. However, we now know that for sure from Frossard and who it was! Levick and Frossard make no mention of going thru silver coinage, but it sure seems likely that those who got in and were interested in silver issues would certainly weasel their way into going thru those coins. "BTW, I just found proof the mint was redeeming by weight. In Taxay pg 238, quoting the Philadelphia Bulletin article which says of the exchange in the 4th para, 2nd sentence, "The clerks and weighers...". "I've read that passage dozens and maybe a hundred times over the years and "weighers" never registered until now. "30-plus years at this and I still often feel like a beginner."
[1] Citation from Willard C. Blaisdell, Thanks. We all owe a debt to those early collectors and dealers who spared so many great old coins from the melting pot. -Editor Craig adds: "It's amazing how we study and study some more and still amazing finds pop out of the woodwork."
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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